Salutations!
Well, it’s been a little over two years since my last post. I feel like this blog has been bittersweet since I’ve started it in 2014: a joy and source of pride when I was actively posting items I thought would help people and a disappointment and source of unease when looking at all the time gaps in posts and how this content seems outdated in light of current decisions I’ve made; I have formally detached myself from K-12 education and am working part-time at my local library at the Reference and Children’s desks. This fantastic experience is helping me hone what I consider “true librarian” skills and customer service skills, while I finish up my MSLS online. I have two classes in progress this Fall and three scheduled for the Spring, so I’ll be finished around May 2024!
Along the way, I’ve learned several things about myself, my reliance on God (yes, I’m just going to say it; I’m tired of trying to separate my faith and personal life from my professional life. I doubt I would be the professional I am today without my faith and personality, so why continue to side-step them?), my professional interests and talents, my peace over my past, and my personal well-being.
As I write this, there are tears in my eyes of thankfulness. I’ve come to peace with my past professional decisions and have hope for my future being exactly where God needs me to be. He has brought me through this path with all its twists and turns, and I praise Him for the talents and passions He has instilled in me regarding people and books. I still believe in “Read+Learn=Grow!” and the basic philosophies I’ve tried to convey. However, the audience and content will shift to align better with where I feel I’m going, not where I’ve been.
I’ve updated my Goodreads account to reflect my current and growing interest in adult fiction and non-fiction (okay, clarification point: not adult in steamy/spicy content. I merely mean “adult” as in not kiddo), which was a great start to what I envision “Read+Learn=Grow!” becoming, mostly book reviews and some librarianship think pieces I actually wrote as part of class discussion boards during the MSLS. Like the apostle Paul wrote by God’s inspiration in I Corinthians 13: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (KJV, verse 11), I feel I am putting away childish things as I see my vision for myself as a librarian grow beyond so much more than only a school library media specialist – that was where I was supposed to be for a season, now the season has irrevocably changed. I am “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13b, KJV).
So, if you’ve been reading and perusing the blog all along, thanks for sticking around and weathering the ups and downs with me. If nobody is reading these posts or has ever been reading them at all, I know it is a great place for me to articulate my thoughts and document my learning.
RLGing,
Sarah Hope
PS. My signature and the general feel of the blog will be shifting to reflect my more adult, rather than kiddo, service orientation in my role as librarian.
